MIM #23: Pockets with Edger dies

I really liked the MIM challenge over at Papertrey Ink!!!! It was about making pockets and using cute edger dies to flourish the pocket edges. I don't know about you, but I love pockets! Sometimes I find them just too plain and try to figure out different ways to decorate them to make them pretty while still being functional. Especially when it comes to holding something important, like a gift card or money.

Which brings me to the card that I needed to make. I had a just-got-married type of party to go to this week. The bride and groom were married in a different state and then came back to their hometown to celebrate with the rest of the friends and family. They are moving overseas at the end of the month so I wanted to give them a gift card instead of a present. I needed a pocket for my card so that I could place the gift card inside. And the MIM challenge gave me the inspiration that I needed!

Card deets:

Paper- Ocean Tides, Fine Linen (PTI) and pattern paper by Basic Grey

Sentiment - Tag Its #3 (PTI)

Ink -Galaxy Gold (Tsukineko), Close to Cocoa (SU)

Dies - Edgers #1, Beautiful BloomsII #1(PTI)

Other - embroidery floss, key and lock brads (i just broke off the brad parts)

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday Challenge #16- Sympathy Cards

I am supposed to be getting ready for a camping trip. Which I really don't feel like packing for. So I hopped on over to Papertrey's Make it Monday Challenge to see if I could procrastinate my packing for a more creative outlet that would ease my guilt. Did I mention that it's been raining lots over here?! Not conducive to boring old packing, that is for sure. Anyway, back to the challenge. I find it hard to make sympathy cards. I was kinda glad that this was the challenge over at PTI. I found Dawn McVey's tips very helpful when I went to make mine. She suggested flowers. I really do love PTI's Year of Flowers and so I pulled out my Sweet Pea stamp set for this card. Okay. Now what? Simple is the way to go, not cutesy or garrish. Hmmm. I think I got that.

So what I ended up with is a very simple card. I like the way this came out, too. But as a general {superstitious} rule of thumb, I don't plan on making more of these to keep on hand. Unless, of course, I have more chores that I'd rather avoid! ;)

Card deets:
Cardstock- Kraft, Lavender Moon (PTI), Vellum
Ink - Versamark, Fresh Snow (PTI), Chocolate Chip (SU)
Stamps - YOF: Sweet Pea, Think Big Fav #3, Background Basics: Textile I ( all PTI)
Other- Clear Embossing Ink (Stampendous), Brown Fine Tip Marker (MS), self adhesive pearls, PTI Edgers Die #1 and Sending You Die

National Scrapbooking Day - Cake auction?

Hello, there! I hope you all enjoy today since it is National Scrapbooking Day. The weird thing for me is that I won't be up in my paper haven at all today. Today is the deadline to bring in cakes for the cake auction at our church. I love to bake so I am excited to make some fun cakes. If I can get some pics in I will probably post them here. I look forward to visiting your blogs later this evening to see what you were up to today!

Happy Scrapbooking!

Happy Mother's Day

I made this card for my mom for Mother's day. I even dusted off the cricut for this one! The idea I got from Papercrafts latest magazine (May/June 2011). There were lots of great ideas for cards paying homage to the seamstresses in our lives! My mom did some sewing and we would laugh at those first attempts that she made for years to come. She also made some really wonderful and beautiful things for me and my family since those first early days. I just knew that I wanted to make a card with a sewing theme for her.

I used my cherished paper pack, Stella and Rose-Mabel (MME), for the patterned papers here. It also have me a great color scheme to work with (almost similar to the one I used last year for Mother's Day).

Here's the skinny on the products I used:

Cardstock: Kraft, Stella and Rose-Mabel (MME), brown bag I saved from a gift shop at a museum (it had a cool vintage look to it like an old newspaper)

Cricut : Dress Form cut at 5" (Forever Young Cart)

Stamps: Background Basics-Text Style (PTI), Doily from MME

Ink: Vintage Photo Distress Ink (T.H.), black IDentipen (Sakura), Tiger Lily Glimmer Mist

Fibers: thin ribbon (MS), Cream Tulle, stitching lines sewn with my sewing machine

Other embellies: mini safety pin (JoAnn's), Stick Pin, Pearls, beads from my stash, Decorative Brad from Stella and Rose-Hattie "Happy", Mini Tag Paperpunch (MS), Scalloped circle punch (Marvy)

Contest - Paper Cutz Challenge #90

Stella and Rose - Just call me Mabel!

Happy Friday! The last few weeks have been a major cramp in my crafting fun. We had so many events going on with my kids' school that I didn't have time to do anything much less take a picture of it.... until today. I recently purchase a paper pack from My Mind's Eye called Stella and Rose (Mabel) and it sat neglected while I was so busy. It was calling to me; and when I answered it gave me so much crafting pleasure! I love when I see certain colors and visions of papercrafting float around in my head. :)

I really like the layout of this card based on this week's Cards Pattern Sketch (#113). It was just the right layout and a super fun challenge. The color choices came from the colors in the paper pack. Super easy, right? And I just love that it has a blend of a couple of different styles.


Here's the list on the goodies I used:

Cardstock - Lagoon (Bazzill), Stella and Rose --Mabel (MME)
Inks - Vintage Photo (TH), New Canvas (PTI)

Stamp - Doily image (on the blue tag) is from Stella and Rose (MME)

Fibers - Lace - Mabel Little Lady Trims (MME), Natural Twine and Satin Ribbon (PTI), Aqua Organdy Ribbon (picked up at Joann's in a bin). I used my sewing machine to stitch along a border.

Other accessories - Vintage Buttons (PTI), Hanging Charm is from my girlfriend's stash of doodads.




Thanks for stopping by!

You're Sew Kind

Don't you love when people go the extra mile and do something really generous for you?
I have a friend who is so sweet and she is the kind of friend that makes you thankful every day!
She is great about calling me, inviting me to try new things with her (like taking some culinary classes and quilting classes), and she just inspires me to be a better friend.

Since she is just learning how to sew I thought I'd make this thank you card for her. I was inspired by Papercrafts Magazine. I took the idea and made it my own.

Here are the supplies:

Cardstock: Red, Black White, Kraft, Simply Chartreuse (PTI)
Dies: Sending You "leaves"(PTI), Small Oval (Nestabilities), Rickrack and small scallop paper punch (EK success)
Ink: Black (Memento), New Canvass (PTI)
Accents: Black button, white glitter, bakers twine (MS), sewing machine, embossing folder (spots and dots I think is cuttlebug)
Sentiment: I believe it's from a HeroArts clear stamp set that I got a long time ago.

Thanks for looking! Sorry my posts are so sporadic. I've been busy lately and it seems like when I make a craft I don't have time to take a pic of it and post it. I always have to rush out the door! ;)

Making a Masculine Card

I find it so hard to make a man-card that doesn't make my husband want to give up his own "man-card"! I listened to his feedback and the result is a very simple card. Here is what I came up with for Papertrey Ink's challenge.

A very simple card....hmmm... no strings, no buttons, no glitter. And even though my hubby recommended it, no beef jerky!!!!




Supplies:
Papers: They Guy Stack (DCWV), Simply Chartreuse, Fine Linen (PTI)
Ink: Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger), Chocolate Chip (SU)
Die: Fillable Frames #4 (PTI)
Stamps: Fillable Frames #4(PTI), Away We Go Road Trip (Fiskars)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Ladybugs and Flowers

Ladybugs and flowers go together like peas and corn! I usually don't like bugs in my garden but ladybugs are an exception. I really liked the flowers that I found on the Cricut Lite cartridge "Live Simply". I wanted to incorporate a lady bug in my project so I used one that I found in a daisy stamp set that I got (see Black Eyed Susans post for the flower image). I used Versamark on the pink cardstock to make my own patterned paper with ladybugs on it. I also stamped a lady bug in Coral (SU) on the frame in the center of my card. The frame cut is also from Live Simply cart. I added some Stickles to the bug on the flower. The buttons are from my stash and I adhered them onto the flower centers using glue dots. I also embossed a plaid pattern onto the citron color cardstock for a little texture. The sentiment is from PTI.

Contest -

BBTB2 - Boys will be boys : Ladybug Challenge

Black-Eyed Susans

I really liked the colors that were picked for this week's challenge over at Colour Q. The colors

are so bright and cheerful. I used a stamp set that I recently purchased from Archivers. I believe it is a Hero Arts set but I'd have to go upstairs to check on that for you... anyway, I colored it with some Copics, stamped over the image with a French script background stamp (SU). I made a stick pin with some goodies from my stash (the stick pin itself is from Making Memories). The butterfly images also came with the daisies so they are from the same set. I used several punches, some ribbon and also a button for extra "oomf". :)

Here are the contests I am entering this in:

ColourQ - Challenge #7

Card Patterns - Sketch #105

PTI - Make it Mondays Challenge

I just bought this April Sweet Pea Stamp set from PTI. I love the flower image. I guess it must be my longing for spring!

Here in Colorado spring is starting to make an appearance but it is more of a tease. Some snow, then sun, then snow again. But at least spring is coming!

Now on to the challenge. PTI's Make it Mondays challenge is to use some distressing on your card and I did that on the main flower image as well as the sentiment tag. I distressed those edges with my scissors. I also used some creamy caramel ink (SU) to distress the edges of the natural color cardstock from my stash. I used my scoring board to score some lines around my cardstock to make a border. I curled the doily, tore the vellum strip and used a MS punch for the bottom strip (it's light pink but I'm not sure if it really shows up in this picture). I attached a button (PTI) to some MS ribbon using embroidery floss. Then I stuck that on a mini wooden clothespin. The sentiment (PTI) is stamped in Old Olive (SU).

I hope my spring days are right around the corner! Thanks for stopping by.

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

It's all about doilies!
I am usually not a frilly kind of girl but I really like the doily trend that is sweeping the crafting world. These are not your grandmother's couch doilies. They are fun and feminine. Not the "please don't touch me" look that I've come to associate with them. They add some softness to the sharp lines I like in my cards. They can still look clean and simple. :)







I've tried to use a couple of doilies on two cards that I needed to make. I also am entering these cards in a Papertrey Ink contest. It was also a little challenging because I didn't use my cricut for anything!


Here is what I used:

Ink- SU Chocolate Chip, Versamark watermark (on the blue papers)
Paper - American Crafts and Bazzil Basics
Stamp - PTI Everyday Button Bits (sentiment)
Punches - EK success and Marvy
Ribbons, buttons, twine, and doilies from my stash.

I also used my MS scoreboard to add some embossing to each card. That inspiration came from PTI's website - "Make it Mondays".

Thanks for stopping by!